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Today we interviewed Joseph from Chandler Appliance Repair in Montgomery, Alabama about what it takes to start a business in the appliance industry. With so many new appliances coming out, you would think it’s difficult to keep up on each new units working parts. Fixing an appliance is something that is learned over time, most appliances have the same working parts as they did years ago, just a different outer layer or different look, with a few minor upgrades.

How do you keep up with each new appliance you work on?

Joseph – It really isn’t that difficult.. maybe it sounds harder than it really is. If you worked on airplanes as a mechanic, how do you keep up with the newer planes they keep coming out with? Its the same thing with appliances. Nothing is really that different from one generation to the next. Maybe you would have a few upgrades or in today’s age we find many new appliances have touch screens and computer memory boards. But even those aren’t that difficult to repair. Anyone would be able to figure out how to replace that part if they needed to.

What’s it like working in a small town like Montgomery AL?

Joseph – Owning your own business in a small town definitely has its pros and cons. For one, its harder to stay busy. You have to keep up with marketing your business because if you don’t there will always be another company ahead of you. When you live in a small city like Montgomery, the competition can be fierce as there aren’t as many jobs to keep everyone busy. But as for the pros, if you really work hard and stand out from your competition you can get most of the business coming in. Just by going above and beyond with every customer, they will remember you the next time and they will also be more willing to refer business to you. Besides, Montgomery isn’t that small of an area. Our city has just over 200k in population.

If someone wanted to get in on the appliance repair business, how would you suggest they get started?

Joseph – Well first of all, starting your own business takes a great deal of work. Its not just about going out and fixing a broken refrigerator or maybe a broken dishwasher and then getting paid for your time. You have to know everything there is about each make and model of appliance as well as what problems are most popular with that specific brands. You also have to be able to schedule people and know how long it will take you to fix one appliance at one location before you have to leave for your next appointment. Scheduling is probably the hardest thing to get down when you first start off. I would suggest that they start working with a successful appliance repair technician now and start learning the business. In a few years they would be educated enough and had seen the process working that they could start their own business. Even then, you would need to know how to budget your time and money, be able to buy your own insurance, get bonded and insured as well as start your own website and pay for marketing. Most times it makes since to just work for an established business, someone whose been around for years, instead of trying to start your own business.

This is a question I get asked all of the time. How do you choose the best appliance repair tech when there are so many to choose from? If you spent time calling every single one, it would take you all day just to go through the list of technicians. Most appliance repair technicians are the same and they all charge relatively the same fees.

While other technicians may have more experience, newer technicians may understand newer technologies better than those who have been in the field for 10+ years. So then it still comes down to, how do you choose the best appliance repair tech?

Here are a few things you can do to choose the best appliance repair technician in your area

Do they have a website online? Most repair technicians work for themselves, so if they are at all serious about this business, they will have an online presence.

What are other people saying about the appliance repair business online? Reviews of a business are extremely important when you have never worked with the company before. (Although you need to be careful now-a-days as many businesses can fake their reviews, so look at trusted sites like Yelp and Google, as these websites have some very strict filters for when it comes to showing reviews for a business online.)

The best way of choosing an appliance repair tech is by referral. Do you have any friends or family members who can refer someone to you? The best way to ask your friends and family is through posting a request on Facebook. Just by asking a simple question like this, you should have some people who can give you a few references.

If you get a reference from a friend or family member, search out the business online and see if they have more reviews or if they even have a website. Usually the easiest way of finding a business is by searching for the business name as well as with the technicians name.

These four points should help you find one of the better repair techs in your area. Be sure to do your research because some repair techs who are less qualified may take longer fixing your broken appliance and since most of these people charge by the half hour, if you hire someone who is slow, you will end up having to pay more for their work.

My friend is a Spokane appliance repair technician who has taught me what to look for when it comes to choosing the best in the field. He has over 20 years of experience and has dealt with some bad technicians over the years, mainly because he is always called in to fix jobs where another technician mess up. You can really learn a lot from another appliance tech and if you need more information, check out Noel at – www.robinsonsappliancerepair.com